Day 6 is the day the Finals will take place in the beautiful Palace in Manchester City. As you’ve probably heard, Groningen is still in the run to become the next ESL European Championship in debating. After we had breakfast in the University Place, it was time for the ESL Finals to start in the luxuous Palace Hotel.
The Dutch delegation supported Stijn and Henk from Groningen, who competed in Closing Government against Berlin (OG), Lund (OO) and Tel Aviv (CO). The motion of the ESL Finals of EUDC Manchester 2013 read as follows: THBT the state should not fun any works of art or performances that the average citizen would not recognize as having an artistic note. This resulted in an interesting and strong debate, where Stijn and Henk made a good chance to win the debate.
In the meantime we heard that Zagreb won the bid for hosting EUDC 2014, with 12 votes against 11 for Durham. This is a sad message for the Dutch, since our own Danique van Koppenhagen would be in the Durham EUDC CA-team, together with Fred Cowell. So, obviously, the Netherlands gave their vote to Durham, but this was not enough to give them the win.
After the ESL Final the Open Final took place between Edinburgh (OG), TCD Hist (OO), Oxford (CG) and Cambridge (CO). The level of this debate was very high, as we are used to in Open Finals. We didn’t have a clear idea of the outcome of the Open Finals, but we would hear the results in the evening. Daan Welling was one of the judges in this debate, a great judging achievement!
The participants had dinner in the same place as where the Finals were held. Many tables were put in this room to serve everyone a real Championship Dinner. Most people were dressed nicely, in either a suit or a dress. The food tasted good and so did the wine. It took some time, but then, finally, it was time for some very important announcements.
The announcements started with the results of the Debating League of Europe, a set of seven tournaments around Europe. Best ESL Speaker in this league was Daan Welling from Leiden, who is also the winner of EUDC Belgrade 2012 in the ESL Category. Best debating society was the Utrecht Debating Society.
It seemed like the whole Dutch delegation became nervous when the results of the ESL Finals were announced. First we heard that several Dutch speakers were in the Top Ten of Best ESL Speakers. Bionda from Roosevelt B took the 8th place, where Henk from Groningen B got a 4th and Andrea from KCL A a 3rd place.
Then, finally, we would hear the results of the ESL Grand Final. Unfortunately Lund took the win, but Groningen is a winner already by reaching the finals on behalf of the Netherlands. In the Open Category Cambridge took the win, where Sally Rooney from TCD Hist was Best Speaker. She has an average speaker score of 85, which is ridiculously high!
After all these announcements, it was time for the Dutch delegation to dance on the music of a DJ and to enjoy the last night of Manchester EUDC 2013. See you next year in Zagreb!
De Nederlandse Debatbond (NDB) stelt zich als doel het wedstrijddebat te bevorderen en ondersteunen in Nederland. Als nationaal overkoepelend orgaan vertegenwoordigt de NDB ongeveer 1.000 leden waarvan de meesten lid zijn van één van de debatverenigingen die Nederland rijk is.
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